Waking Up From A Dream, The Person Beside My Pillow Was No Longer There|✔️

7: The cuckoo occupies the nest

How cruel could time be?

"Quach Phuong, Quach Phuong. This exam I ranked 12th in the entire class. It's all thanks to you!"

Tan Duat happily held the score sheet in his hand. Quach Phuong was about to congratulate him, but before she could say a word, Tan Duat had hugged her.

This spontaneous hug was very brief, lasting only three seconds, but it left Quach Phuong dazed, a daze that lasted for ten years.

Yet in their three years of marriage, they never had another hug. If there was any physical contact, it was when Tan Duat was so drunk, he would pin her down and have his way with her. In the midst of ecstasy and pleasure, Tan Duat would call out Nhan Tinh's name, choking up.

Quach Phuong had also felt a suffocating pain, as if someone was holding her head under freezing water, constantly on the verge of death.

After sobering up, Tan Duat would remind her to take contraceptive pills. She could only nod in resignation. Quach Phuong had no right to blame Tan Duat, because this marriage was something he never agreed to in the first place.

***

"Quach Phuong, quickly look into the camera," a classmate held out a camera and panned it towards her.

Three years had passed in the blink of an eye. Tan Duat and Quach Phuong were now in their final year of high school.

In addition to the intense atmosphere of exam preparation, the class was also busy passing around scrapbooks. Some students had even brought cameras to film their classmates, like reporters interviewing people on the street.

"Quach Phuong, what's your biggest dream?"

Quach Phuong smiled gently, and gave a startling response: "To become the second Bill Gates!"

Just as she said this, Tan Duat walked into the classroom. When he heard what she said, he had burst out laughing, clutching his stomach: "Quach Phuong, there's no way your dream can come true. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard. Can someone like you, who's always buried in her studies, drop out and still become successful?"

Tan Duat was right; Quach Phuong couldn't achieve her biggest dream. Because after getting married, she had chosen to step back and support Tan Duat from behind the scenes. Her daily life revolved around the kitchen, cooking meals, and doing laundry. She meticulously sorted Tan Duat's clothes for machine washing and hand washing, and cooked according to his preferences, even if it meant making dishes she was allergic to.

The classroom atmosphere became even livelier, the classmate who held the camera jokingly asked her: "How about sharing a smaller dream with us, Quach Phuong?"

A gust of wind rustled her long hair as she rested her chin on her hand, her voice dreamy: "Then, it would be to marry the love of my life!"

Unexpectedly, that wildest dream of hers had come true. How ridiculous the twists and turns of fate were.

Quach Phuong had hoped that her high school years would pass peacefully. She could be friends with Tan Duat, and help him with his studies during class, and then after school, pass by the yard to watch him play basketball.

In high school, Tan Duat was very popular. Everyday, his desk was filled with love letters. Some of the girls from the lower grades, knowing that she was his deskmate, had even asked her to pass their love letters to Tan Duat.

Despite being pursued by so many people, Tan Duat was only devoted to Nhan Tinh. To ward off all other admirers, he had blatantly confessed his love for her in his self-reflection paper. He even intentionally let it spread to as many people as possible.

There were times when Quach Phuong felt truly jealous of Nhan Tinh. Because she didn't have to do anything to make Tan Duat fall madly in love with her. Her existence was the most significant thing in Tan Duat's life.

Once, while Quach Phuong was correcting Tan Duat's test paper, she had casually asked: "Tan Duat, do you like Nhan Tinh that much?"

"Of course, I've liked her since I was a little kid. Tell me, do you think my love for her is as vast as the Atlantic Ocean?" Tan Duat laid down on the desk, and lamented: "Quach Phuong, if I confessed to Nhan Tinh at the coming-of-age ceremony, do you think she would agree?"

Quach Phuong's hand trembled. She couldn't control her strength and ended up pressing too hard on the pencil tip, causing it to break. Her eyes darted away in panic, and she laughed: "Someone who's as rude and unscrupulous as you even knows how to worry?"

"Why not? That's because you haven't fallen in love yet, so you wouldn't understand. Just being near her makes my arms and legs go weak, and I start babbling." Tan Duat grabbed the pencil in her hand: "My god, you really ruined my pencil, Quach Phuong."

Quach Phuong calmed down, looking at the test paper, and answered his earlier question: "Nhan Tinh will definitely agree."

Tan Duat happily leaned back in his chair: "I think so too."

Being friends was fine, at least they could chat for a bit, and discuss worldly matters. But this simple thought of Quach Phuong was soon ruthlessly shattered by reality. Near the coming of age ceremony, a shocking secret came to light.

It turned out that the school beauty, Nhan Tinh, was not the real eldest daughter of the Ngo family. For 18 years, she had been like a cuckoo occupying another's nest. The real eldest daughter had been lost, living a hard life without parents.

When the Ngo family couple came looking for her, Quach Phuong felt a mix of emotions. She had imagined countless times who her parents might be, and what they did for a living. Had they abandoned her because life was too harsh? Only that she never imagined having such a distinguished background.

Quach Phuong was taken back by the Ngo family to be recognized and returned to her roots. She lived in a grand house, ate delicious food, and wore beautiful clothes. However, she vaguely felt like a guest in someone else's home. Because the Ngo family loved Nhan Tinh so much, they had kept her as their adopted daughter.

Logically speaking, she could understand that blood ties could not completely dictate affection. There was a difference between a daughter who had been cherished and nurtured for 18 years, and a biological daughter who they've never met, that had suddenly appeared after 18 years.

Finding her parents was already a great blessing. She never dared to hope for more. But facing her mother's conflicted gaze, her father's suppressed sighs, and Nhan Tinh's indifferent expression, made her feel extremely suffocated.

She felt stifled in her own home, a place that was rightfully hers.

Quach Phuong received many things she could never have dreamed of before. But in exchange, she had lost the most important thing to her—her friendship with Tan Duat.